Waiting
by waterlit
Summary: Krory and Miranda have been seperated for many years, ever since the exorcists won the war. Now, near the end of his life, Krory finds closure. Minor Allen/Lenalee, lots of Krory/Miranda. Rated T to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own D. Gray-Man!

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Perhaps, some people could never quite play the romance game correctly. Some thing or other would trip them even in the midst of their most sparkling endeavours, rendering them speechless and spluttering as the cogs of fate drove their beloveds away.

Arystar Krory was one such person. Love, to him, was as transient as the morning mist; eerily cold and echoing across the echelons of time, but always fleeting and desolate. Throughout his life misfortunes had been his lot and love had always found a way to elude him in the end. There was Eliade – she still kept her place in her heart; she was his first love after all – but the pain of her passing was now but a mere fragment of memory that no longer haunted his waking moments. And then there was (and he gulped to think of _her_ name) Miranda. He tried uttering her name in a whisper. It didn't come out quite right. Years of separation had not stilled the aching loss that pierced him whenever he thought of her. Even now, his emotions raged and flip-flopped something dreadful at the mere mention of her name.

Even after all these time, his heart belonged to her. He could not believe her dead, not till her body was found. Till then, he would hope and pray and wait. Waiting; he'd done that for a long, long time. He could wait a bit more.

With a sigh, Krory opened his eyes. It was morning, but it bore no semblance to the dawn. Outside his window he saw dark clouds sailing across the gloomy sky, the sky hidden behind tufts of angry rain. Smiling sadly, he turned to get off the bed. And he found that the tiles were cold beneath his feet. How he wished that Miranda was by his side on mornings like this. Together, they would cuddle under the sheets and rejoice over the happy future they had worked for with the other exorcists. But no. Such dreams were foolish, for she had long gone, to where he knew not.

Hobbling over to the heater, his eyes came to rest on an ornate box sitting on the mantelpiece. Eyes clouding over with burning tears, he snapped the box open.

Inside lay a delicate fan, carved with beautiful symbols of wonderful workmanship.

Miranda's fan.

Feeling a flood of memories flood over him, he slapped the box shut. He shook his head, trying to clear all the sad thoughts away.

_Miranda_. _Where are you now?_

_I miss you. _

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A/N: hello! this is the first chapter, yeah. hopefully i'll be able to find time to update soon. so yeah, thanks for reading! :D


	2. Chapter 2

I don't own D. Gray-Man D:

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Later that day, Krory opened his umbrella and stepped out the door. Rain drizzled down around him as he splashed his way to a certain happy and neat-looking house around the corner. At the door of this cheerful home, he paused. With uncertain hands he gave a resounding tap on the well-polished wooden door.

_Tap-tap_.

He waited, with bated breath.

To his relief, the door soon swung open and a face peeped out at him.

"Uncle Krory?" A childish voice piped out. "Grandma! Grandpa! Uncle Krory's here!"

The child ushered him into a comfortable room all decked out in pastel colours. There, sitting by the fireplace in soft chairs were a scarred man and a graceful woman.

"Krory!" Both exclaimed in surprise.

"Allen, Lenalee. It's good to see you again."

"Sit down!" Lenalee offered him a chair. "Lavi and Kanda are coming over later. Stay till they arrive, please? We all miss each other loads."

Krory did not object to her plea.

Soon enough, a drenched redhead and a self-possessed man entered. They all sat down to reminiscence.

"Allen, remember how we used to call you beansprout? Hahahaha, those were the days!"

"Lenalee, how're your grandchildren? Mine are awfully noisy."

"Yeah, I miss jiji too. Even his panda eyes."

Krory drank in the scene. Listening to his friends talk was balm enough for him. Slowly, his gaze drifted to the window, where the formidable outline of the Black Order headquarters could still be seen. Ahhh, the times he'd spent there with his fellow exorcists and finders. Nowadays the headquarters were barely occupied. The exorcists were called back at times for practice drills, but only a few abode there with the scientists now.

Kanda and Lavi had each married lovely women and now spent their twilight years in contentment, except for the fact that they still argued and fought a lot when they met. Allen and Lenalee lived in bliss too, with their children and grandchildren. And he felt so very out of place. They had all achived their happy endings, and here he was, alone and miserable. He was a spare tyre, out of place, an ornament of gloom amid cheer and fun.

They were family, yes, but Eliade – and Miranda – what was one to do with these chilling memories of lost love?

An aching pang seized him. To cry, to shout out loud that he wanted Miranda back; how satisfactory that would be. Yet how could he ignore the kindness showered upon him by friends? They had stood by him all these while, even as his hopes of finding Miranda petered out with each passing year.

"Krory?"

"Uhhh?" He awoke from his reverie, only to find his friends staring at him, puzzled looks lining their faces. "I'm fine. Just dozed off, is all."

"You sure, Kuro-chan?" Lavi didn't quite believe him, it seemed.

"I..I think I need to go. See you all around at the next drill!" With that, he leapt out of his seat and bound out of the house.

Out in the rain, he realised he'd forgotten his umbrella.

Out in the rain, a tall figure hobbled his way down muddy streets, all the while holding back tears of sorrow. Friends were important, but they brought back too many memories of his younger days.

Out in the rain, tears slid down his face, blending with the rain.

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A/N: Ohhh my can't believe it i managed to update within one day heh. Hmm but the next update'll probably be much later. School won't give me much time for this D: But anyway, thanks for reading! :D


	3. Chapter 3

I don't own D. Gray - Man, sadly.

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Safe within his small house, Krory stole another look at the ornate box atop the mantelpiece. A single look was all he needed; a single look, to quench that raging thirst to see her again. Yet how strange it all was. One look gave way to another; one look became fifty peeks, a hundred glances, a thousand tears.

His bleeding heart cried out. Was there anyone within a mile who couldn't hear his anguished thoughts? He was quite sure they could, for these thoughts strangled him, suffocated him, with their loud wails.

_Miranda Lotto where did you go? Why did you abandon me?_

Miranda Lotto, the words inside the ornate box spelled. Miranda Lotto. Krory repeated her name over and over again, feeling the arch of his tongue and the dancing of his sharp teeth each time her name left his lips.

His wrinkled hands caressed the fan. He'd given the fan to her for her 31st birthday, the day... the day before she disappeared and left forever. Such a pretty fan it was too. Embroidered with attractive patterns, he'd spent a long time searching for it in shops all over England.

His eyes misted over.

Miranda walked down the marble stairs, holding her breath as she concentrated on walking in heels. One step, one step, one step. Surprisingly, she managed to make her way down without tripping a single time. Smiling happily at her latest accomplishment, she floated over to Krory. And then, a few steps before him, she tripped.

She giggled as she fell onto his chest. His embrace was snug and warm and she never meant to leave it. She broke out in giggles again as he placed her back on her unsteady feet.

"Thanks." She smiled.

"Happy birthday, Miranda. Here, take this." He shoved the ornate box into her hands. "A present. From me."

Soon, the other exorcists and finders gathered round to present Miranda with her birthday gifts, leaving Krory smiling to himself at the periphery of the circle.

But his thoughts were soon interrupted.

"Allen! What did you think you were doing! Do you have any idea how dangerous that was? Don't you know that you caused us all to worry? Why can't you share your worries and troubles with me, with us?" Lenalee sobbed distraughtly, swollen abdomen showing through her black dress.

_Allen must have worried her again. Seriously, that boy, when will he learn to share his troubles with Lenalee? _

Miranda hurried over to Lenalee and comforted her. Then Allen dragged Miranda away, whispering into her ears urgently. The look on her face turned from one of consolation to one of horrified surprised. Krory stared at her widened eyes with interest. _What was Allen telling her?_

Next thing he knew, Miranda had hugged him goodnight. In silence she trudged up to bed. And then, she just wasn't around the next morning.

She had disappeared during the night, no one knew where. And her fan, he found it in her room. There was no note, nothing, that held a goodbye message for him. He had slumped down onto the carpeted floor of her room and grieved for hours. But nothing happened.

Since then, he had never loved again.

He thought he could hear Lenalee screaming again.

"Allen-kun! Why can't you share those burdens of yours with me? It hurts me to see you keep them to yourself.."

And the voice trailed off into the soft pitter-patter of grey raindrops against his foggy window.

His eyes fell back onto the tarnished box lying on his lap. How did it get there? He didn't remember walking over to the mantelpiece. A tarnished box. That's all it ever was and ever shall be. Just like his relationship with Miranda; tarnished forevermore.

His fingers threw the box into the fire.

Miranda would never come back. And he, he had pined for her for years uncounted. Now the time had come to re-embrace life.

The fire cackled joyfully as it swallowed the casket of memories.

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A/N: ahaha i updated! but i don't really like the feel of this chapter. oh well. mmm thanks for the reviews! they were encouraging :D so yeah, not sure when i'll next update. bye~


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: i don't own D. Gray -Man yeahh D:

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Years later, Krory could feel it. The shadow of death and decay hung over him with all the bittersweet rancour of old age. Not wanting to pass his last days in silent solitude in a mucky old house, he started on journey across Europe. Not that it was easy, of course. Each step he took could, at times, make him double over with pain and exhaustion. Rheumatism, he decided, was definitely not a prerequisite for travelling.

Day by day he walked on, pausing now and then to enjoy the fluffy clouds, or the chilling wind.

And then he saw her – it. It was one of those objects that disappear into the murky earth; chameleon-like in all it's mundane self. Hidden from sight by sprays of dark, dirty ferns, was a stone, clad in the colour of mud. And on that stone sat Miranda's name. There it was, staring quietly at the ground, absorbed in isolated contemplation of the grey world. A harsh croak seemed to escape from him; in seconds, he had thrown himself flat upon the dusty ground, wrinkled fingers running over those crudely engraved words. Miranda Lotto. His Miranda.

What did those words below her name read? He squinted.

She must have died some decades before. Well then, that provided a reason why she hadn't tried to find him. He should have known that Miranda would never have abandoned him like that.

He hugged the stone marker. _Miranda, why did you go away from me?_

But there was no one to answer his question now. Miranda was no longer of this world; she slept below mounds of earth, with only a tiny nondescript stone marker to remember her, and her life as a member of the Black Order. There was no grand marble grave for her, no, merely a spot of earth and a mossy length of stone. And Allen too, could not answer his question; how could he, when he had turned into ashes and scattered into the wind? Perhaps, Lenalee might have told him the answer he sought, but it was too late to ask her. Like Allen, she was now merely one of the ghosts that haunted the Black Order Headquarters.

He howled.

Weeping, he fell asleep among the dank leaves littering Miranda's grave. The moon rose to illuminate the touching portrait of an old man mourning his long-dead lover. When the sun rose, swallowing the moon in their eternal cycle of life and death, the golden rays shed light on the road before the grave. Nestled in shadows, though, were the bodies of Miranda and Krory, one deep in sleep beneath earth's gentle embrace, the other sleeping in peace at long last after years of despair.

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A/N: hah i finally finished it! :D my tests are coming up soon, so i probably won't be posting any stories until maybe dec? omg that's quite a long time :O maybe not then. anyway, i know the ending's abit rushed and not very original, but still, thanks for your patience in reading this! i hope you enjoyed it heh :D


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